Hawley-McCaskill Senate race draws flood of outside funds

Missouri’s U.S. Senate race between Sen. Claire McCaskill, the Democratic incumbent, and Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, her Republican challenger, has drawn a deluge of donations from outside the state, with independent spending on the race surpassing $41 million so far.

That makes Missouri the national leader for outside contributions in a Senate race.

Nationally, wealthy political donors are spending hundreds of millions in races to determine control of the House and Senate. Through Thursday, independent groups had spent about $700 million on races throughout the country, meaning they will likely outspend the $810 million contributed to the last midterm elections, in 2014.

The independent contributions are all but certain to exceed what McCaskill and Hawley’s campaigns spend on the race. As of their last finance reports, McCaskill was on pace to raise about $30 million; Hawley was projected to bring in about $10 million.

The biggest spenders in Missouri so far have been a political action committee and separate nonprofit affiliated with Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader. His Senate Majority PAC has spent more than $14 million in Missouri. Majority Forward, a nonprofit affiliated with Schumer, has spent an additional $3 million.